(Wide) Open data

I’m still trying to digest all I’ve read about the great hacking-that-wasn’t of Nova Scotia’s freedom-of-information portal. There is a lot to digest. The story has legs and has bounded all over the planet, a textbook case of — take your pick — lax data protection, police over-reach, government ass-covering, all of the above.

In brief, the story is about a 19-year-old Halifax student who wrote a few lines of code that allowed him to download 7,000 pages of what he says he believed was public information from a government portal (called, after all, the “freedom of information” portal). Most of the information, according to the CBC’s Jack Julian, was public, and had been reviewed and redacted (probably heavily, if my experience with Nova Scotia FOIPOPs is anything to go by) but about 250 pages represented responses to requests from Nova Scotians for their own private information. These documents contained sensitive information that was not meant to have been released, but were uploaded to the website without even basic password protection. (Evan d’Entremont, a Halifax-based IT security professional, has provided great coverage of the case and Jacob Boon at The Coast has helpfully pointed out that the security of Nova Scotia’s database system was the subject of a “damning” 2016 report by the auditor general.)

This unprotected personal information is what our premier accused the teen of “stealing,” and it was in response to this alleged “theft” that, by the family’s count, 15 cops were sent to the kid’s house. This is why he’s been charged with “unlawful use of a computer,” an offense that carries a possible 10-year prison sentence.

Risk analysis

The response to the incident by the Halifax police — who, according to the suspect’s mother, also arrested his younger brother on the street and took his 13-year-old sister to question her in a police car — is appalling.

Supt. Jim Perrin refused to confirm whether they had dispatched 15 cops to seize the family’s electronics, telling reporters during a news conference:

We wouldn’t confirm our deployment numbers.

What I can tell you is that every search we do, there is risk analysis done around that. That could be for scene security, transporting of suspects, physical searches, subject matter experts with respect to digital evidence.

I would really like to see how they “analyzed” the risk around this raid. I suspect it must be similar to the “analysis” that went into an RCMP raid of former Constable Wade Lavin’s home in Sydney back in October 2015. The Lavin case, you will recall, also featured “cyber crime” — the union shop steward created a Microsoft Outlook account in the name of “staffkenny” from which he sent emails to three media outlets alleging abuse of company credit cards and vehicles by Cape Breton Regional Police Services managers. He was charged (and eventually found guilty) of impersonating a fellow officer (Staff Sergeant Ken O’Neill), forgery by making a false document, uttering a false document, causing others to act on such a document and conveying a false message.

But listen to what Joan Jessome, then-president of the Nova Scotia Government Employees Union (NSGEU) which represented Lavin, told the Cape Breton Post about the raid on the former police officer’s home:

Jessome said after hearing an account of what happened inside the home from Lavin, she said the union is is questioning whether appropriate force was used by the RCMP.

She said at around 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday, as many as eight RCMP officers turned up at the home and some were armed with Colt C8 carbine assault rifles.

Asleep inside were Lavin, his wife, and his three children, all under the age of 11. She said officers spent some eight hours in the home before leaving.

While the union cannot speak to the investigation of Mr. Lavin, I feel I must speak out and question whether it truly warranted terrorizing a family in their own home,” said Jessome, in a press release issued Friday.

Speaking during an interview, she said Lavin’s wife was prevented from waking up her sons as RCMP officers entered the room and roused the boys.

And here’s what the RCMP said in response:

Const. Mark Skinner, spokesperson for the RCMP, said Friday that police action during a search is based on a risk assessment adding the conduct of the arresting officers was consistent with that assessment.

He declined to comment on what factors are considered in doing such an assessment.

Whatever factors are going into these “risk” assessments, I would suggest they need a re-think.

Fly, FOIPOP, Fly!

And speaking of FOIPOPs, may I introduce you to the Cape Breton Spectator‘s new mascot?

She’s a Sharp-shinned Hawk, indigenous to Cape Breton (although endangered) and known for her keen eyesight, meaning her eyeglasses (which are actually my eyeglasses) are an affectation, but one I am happy to indulge. I’ve named her FOIPOP.

She was designed by local graphic artist Alison Uhma, whose work I really admire, and she features in the new Cape Breton Spectator logo which I hope will grace the top of the home page as of next Wednesday.

There will also, at some point, be SWAG because you know your publication has made it when you can drink your morning coffee out of a travel mug emblazoned with its logo.

Reading/Listening Roundup

Here are a few items from local, independent news sources (or non-profits) I’ve found of interest recently:

Ku’ku’kwes News

The matter was the subject of a two-day meeting in Dartmouth last month, organized by the Atlantic Policy Congress (APC) of First Nation Chiefs and Indigenous Services Canada.

Reports Googoo:

The Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nation Chiefs has been working with Halifax Water, Ulnooweg Development Corp. and an engineering company for the past 18 months to draft a proposal to create the water authority.

Similar negotiations are taking place across the country in an attempt to create regulations under the Safe Drinking Water for First Nations Act, which was passed in 2013 but which currently has no regulations attached.

Halifax Examiner

Reporter Linda Pannozzo has produced a three-part series for the Halifax Examiner on the Northern Pulp paper mill’s proposed effluent treatment and disposal system and all three installments are now out from behind the paywall.

[Takes off reporter’s cap, puts on marketer’s cap]

But I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that journalism like this costs money to produce and is really worth paying for — especially when you can get a joint subscription to the Halifax Examiner and the Cape Breton Spectator for the low, low price of $15 per month or $160 for the year!

[Replaces reporter’s cap, continues]

The articles are Dirty Dealing Part 1: Northern Pulp mill and the province are set to roll the dice with Boat Harbour’s replacement, but a cleaner alternative exists; Dirty Dealing Part 2: Wading through the quagmire of Northern Pulp’s fast-tracked environmental assessment; and Dirty Dealing Part 3: Elevated levels of cancer-causing air emissions coming from Abercrombie pulp mill, peer-reviewed study reveals.

The Nova Scotia Advocate

Robert Devet reports on the incredibly low salaries paid to some seafarers in the international shipping industry.

The story is based on an interview with Karl Risser, an inspector for the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) in Halifax, who tells Devet of a young Ukrainian seafarer he’d met who earns just $400 a month — of which he sends $330 home to his family.

As Devet says in his headline, it truly is the “ugly underbelly” of the shipping industry.

Off Script

Episode #30 of the Springtide Collective’s Off Script podcast features an interview with PEI’s Mark Greenan, an electoral reform proponent who’s been working to bring a Mixed Member Proportional System to his home island:

The first time Prince Edward Islanders voted on electoral reform, they voted to keep the status quo. That was in 2005. Mark Greenan was involved in the campaign then, and ended up writing a masters thesis on the topic. The second time Islanders voted on electoral reform was in a 2016 plebiscite where 52% of voters expressed a preference for a mixed-member proportional system. The voters were ready, but the government wasn’t. Citing low voter turnout, the Government is choosing to hold another vote.